OURS National Scholarships

In Fall 2021, Bryce Wallace (’23, English & Linguistics) was still stunned that he had gotten into Cal as a transfer student from Irvine Valley College, when more UC-related honors started pouring in. He has since received the merit-based Sharer and Gilman Scholarships and was granted a College Corps Fellowship for his strong commitment to community service, especially in the areas of literacy and DEI work on campus. He has participated in URAP and was recently named a Haas Scholar. Then, last month, Bryce gained national recognition when he was

We’d like to wrap up 2021–2022 by congratulating all of the current Cal Bears and recent alums who received nationally competitive scholarships this academic year, as well as those who submitted strong applications for the more than 25 scholarship programs our office supports. This year’s recipients are: Astronaut Scholars – Nitish Dashora (‘24), Arun Johnson (’23) Critical Language Scholars – Amarpreet Kaur (’22), Ransom Miller (’24), Kristie Moore (’25), Maurice Ruttimann (’22), Satyam Sharma (’25) Gates Cambridge Scholar – Anjali Kantharuban (’22) Goldwater Scholar – Mrunali Manjrekar (’23) Knight-Hennessy Scholar

Updated: March 16, 2023 Only a few months after graduating from Cal, Alexandra Feldman (Political Economy, ’22) will be heading to Peking University to start an M.A. program in China Studies as fully funded Yenching Academy Scholar. She will join an interdisciplinary cohort of 120 other students from around the world who are interested in thinking about China – past, present, and future – from both Chinese and international perspectives. Alexandra, a native of Southern California, first visited Beijing during a four-week Chinese language immersion program after her sophomore year in

Two Berkeley undergraduates – Nitish Dashora (EECS, ’24) and Arun Johnson (CBE, ’23) – have received the prestigious Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) award for STEM majors who have demonstrated exemplary academic performance and have completed substantial work in their chosen fields outside of the classroom. The honor comes with $15,000, an accomplished mentor, and membership in the ASF network, which includes alumni, astronauts, and leaders in academic, technical research, and corporate leadership. Sophomore Nitish Dashora, from Columbus, Ohio, is interested in machine learning algorithms for general intelligence, namely those concerned

Mengyu Dong (Political Science/History, ‘15) has been awarded a Knight-Hennessy Scholarship to support her graduate studies in journalism at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences. Recipients of this prestigious scholarship are selected from an international pool of applicants based on their independence of thought, purposeful leadership, and civic mindset. In addition to receiving financial support for their graduate programs, Knight-Hennessy Scholars gain exposure to a wide range of disciplines and cultures in their cohort and participate in the King Global Leadership Program, which is designed to develop transformational leadership capabilities.

Thanks to the ingenuity and commitment of three Berkeley undergraduates, and funding support from the Donald A. Strauss Scholarship Program, two new student-initiated public service projects will be launched over the coming year. Adil Raniwala (Political Science, ’22) and Garrett Oman (History/Public Policy, ’23) will use the $15,000 grant to set up community networks and deliver free halal food to Afghan refugees who were resettled in temporary housing in Alameda County in the wake of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. “Project Peacemeal” will build on the

Mrunali Manjrekar (Bioengineering/EECS, ’23) has been awarded a $7,500 Goldwater Scholarship, a program established in honor of Senator Barry Goldwater to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue research careers in the fields of the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. She is one of 417 recipients from across the U.S. who were nominated by their universities and then selected by the Goldwater Foundation this year. Mrunali, a Bay Area native, became interested in genetics in middle school, intrigued by the idea that the logic and simplicity of sequences could hold

Senior Anjali Kantharuban (Computer Science and Linguistics, ’22) has been awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which fully funds graduate study at the University of Cambridge. Anjali received the email announcing her selection only an hour before an important graduate school interview and was hard-pressed to stay cool while processing the message. Only after the interview did she call her parents and let the wonderful news sink in. Anjali, who grew up in the Bay Area and has never lived outside of the U.S., will join 22 of the most

Interview and article by L&S Communications assistant Juan Rivera https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/conversation-marshall-scholar-jonathan-kuo UC Berkeley undergraduate Jonathan Kuo was recently named as a 2022 recipient of the Marshall Scholarship. Created after World War II by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, this prestigious scholarship selects and finances distinguished American students to pursue graduate studies and careers at any university in the U.K. On track to graduate with a B.A. in Rhetoric & Molecular and Cell Biology this Spring (Class of 2022), Jonathan exemplifies what it means to be a Golden Bear, as well

On November 17th UC Berkeley senior Namrata Ramesh was selected as a 2020 Rhodes Scholar. Namrata, an international student majoring in Physics, was selected as one of five Rhodes Scholars from India. One of the oldest and most prestigious scholarships of its kind, just under 100 Rhodes Scholars are selected each year from eligible regions around throughout the world to attend Oxford University. The Rhodes is well known for its extremely competitive and rigorous selection process. Namrata will graduate with Honors in spring 2020 with a B.A. in Physics. Namrata